Analyzing Maulden Mills Strategy

Although the occurrence of sudden fire at Mauldin Mills could have been an accident, it caused serious implications on its customers, employees and surrounding communities. This implies that the firm had to be blamed to some extent.It could also mean that the management had not taken sufficient proactive measures toprevent suchdisasters or recovery plans to mitigate the impact. Mauldin Mills had therefore to be responsible for the risks and loss incurred by the employees, customers, suppliers and the community who were affected by the incident. From my perspective, Ifind that the fire had been started by some other people, of course with ill intentions. Such an intention was to collapse the firm and force it to move elsewhere for malicious purposes. The CEO, Mr. Aaron Feuersten, seemed to have understood what was going on, thus the reason why he opted to rebuild the factory at the same venue. It is also interesting that he continued to pay his employees the full salary and benefits during the period of closure. In doing this, he had indeed shown his responsiveness tohis employees since there was no need for them to suffer for mistakes or misfortunes that were not of their own undertaking.

It is also not surprising that this generous act by Feuersten towards his employees brought him into international fame and recognition. Because of this, he was often asked to speak in international businessconferences due to his heroic acts. This act indeed had heralded him as a man of virtue, an ethical man in a world that was depicted with mass layoffs due to job redundancy and economic hardships and leadership failures in many other firms.

Among the ethicalissues found in this case is the necessity of paying employees when they have not actually worked for the company. Mr. Feuersten went against labor laws which only requires employers to pay exempt employees full salary in the event of a disaster in the workplace which could make the workplace closed for only less than a week.The law alsorequires employers to allow his employees leave during such a time.However, it should be considered that Feuersten offered to pay hisworkers for more than threemonths that the company was not in operation. This decision may have been based on the ethical considerations on the part of the director that since he still needed these workers once the factory was ready, they had to be given their full wages plus benefits in order to live a life which they were used to. If they were not given such benefits, then they and their families could suffer.

However, this “acts of charity” brought another ethical dilemma for the company, and this is that by continuing paying workers who are constructive in the firm, then the company coffers were drained. Consequently, the company could not be able to regain its strength due to strained resources. Once the company becomes bankrupt, then it could not be able to employ or continue paying these workers anymore, thus subjecting them to the same problem it was trying to evade. True to this assumption, Mauldin Mills went on to become bankrupt and had to fire many of its workers.

For this case, the key characters were the employees, and customers who were directly affected by the fire disaster. There are suppliers who provided the company with raw materials, those these are not immediately mentioned. Other key stakeholders are the senior management of Maudin Company, since Mr. Feuersten could not have possibly worked alone in the senior management. The director is also akey character due to his acts andbehavior after the occurrence of the incident. For suppliers, they could no longer continue with their supply contract whole customers were unable to obtain their preferred apparel from the manufacturer. There are also the community in which Mauldin Mills operated which had received immense benefits from the manufacture. We are informed that the company injected into the local economy more than 100 million dollars per annum from its proceeds. The local and national government was therefore, a beneficiary of MauldinMills and upon its closure, it is certain that they lost significantrevenue in the process.

Although Mr. Feuersten could be considered a hero for his acts towards employees, thisact hampered the company. What the director could have done to avoid this loss is to lay off employees who were not very critical or those whose expertize were not so critical to the firm. In other words, the CEO could have simply terminated employment for employees whose expertizewere not so critical to the firm. However, he should have given them emotional and psychological supports to enable them cope with the situation. This could have been very helpful as these employees could have prepared themselves to find another job while Mauldin Mills was recuperating. Alternatively, the employer could have found alternative job options for his employees at another location or firm.If this measure had been consider, it is very possible that the company could not have gone bankrupt. Therefore, it could have continued being useful to the community and the nation at large. Further, the management at Maudlin Company could have set up a business continuity plan that could have enabled them manage such a situation.

Having contributed immensely to the local and national economy, the government could have come in and assisted the company to recuperate even if it means regaining the funds at a later time. This could have assisted the company to rebuild itself faster and therefore save the situation. Employees could not have stayed off or be paid for such a long period.

Personally, I would recommend implementation of Business continuity planning (BCP) which are very helpful in mitigating disasters and for safety. BCP will assist companies to design effective measures on how to control the potential hazards and risk in production. With a carefully thought out BCP, an organization may be able to continue business operations even in the occurrence of a particular disaster (Elliot et al 1999, 48). This recommendation would not be different even if Mauidin Mill or any other company were a publicly traded entity. This owes to the fact that BCP is not only applicable but necessary for all companies, whether small or large, private or public.